Association calls for the use of ‘Allah’ in church
Priscilla Prasena, FMT
The Association of Churches in Sarawak said the Bumiputera churches in Sarawak would continue to use the Bahasa Malaysia bible with the word “Allah” as it was their fundamental right.
Its chairman Rev Bolly Lapok reiterated in a press statement today that the churches expected the federal government strictly abide by the Federal Constitution, which guaranteed religious freedom.
“We are also reminding the government that Sabahan and Sarawakian were promised that our right to practise our religion will be respected when Sabah and Sarawak were courted to join the peninsular to form Malaysia in 1963,” he said.
The press statement was issued prior to the Home Ministry’s appeal against the High Court’s ruling that allowed the Catholic weekly publication, The Herald, to use the word, “Allah” in their publication. The appeal was set for hearing at the Court of Appeal on Monday.
On Dec 31, 2009, the High Court held that the Home Ministry’s move in prohibiting The Herald from using the word “Allah” as illegal and therefore, null and void.
However, the Home Ministry remained defiant compelling the publication on Feb 16, 2010 to file for a judicial review of the ministry’s continued ban, naming the ministry and the government as respondents. The publication seeked among others, a declaration that the ministry’s continued prohibition of the use of the word, “Allah” in The Herald as illegal.
Bolly claimed that that the use of the word “Allah” was an integral part of the Bumiputera Christian in Sabah and Sarawak who use Bahasa Malaysia in their churches, and that to stop using “Allah” in the practise of their faith would tentamount to a curb of religious freedom.
“This is abhorrent, wholly unacceptable and a flagrant betrayal of the Malaysia Agreement which guaranteed the inalienable rights of non-Muslims in Sarawak and Sabah to religious freedom,” he said.
Bolly also reiterated that Sabah and Sarawak agreed to join and form Malaysia in 1963 with the agreement that they would accept Islam as the official religion of the federation on the condition that those of other faiths would be allowed to practise their religion without restriction.
“We find it completely unacceptable that what are common practices of the Christians in Sabah and Sarawak for generations, more than a hundred years before the very idea of Malaysia was conceived, is now held as unlawful by the government,” Bolly said.
He also urged the religious extremists to pour fuel into the fire regarding the use of the word “Allah” by Christians as 1.6 million Bumiputera Christians in Sabah and Sarawak used Bahasa Malaysia during worship in addition to their native dialects.
